Mid 20s Guide To Dating: How to play games…literally

(Omaha)–Bingo! Kaleb Michaud found his passion for European board games after playing The Settlers of Catan with a college friend who worked for a games magazine. Balderdash! Although that game and others like it were plentiful abroad, he had trouble finding them here. But was it a Trivial Pursuit? Definitely not. The games are challenging, easy to learn and fun. They offer a chance for friends, including families with children, to get together socially without doing the bar scene. And these games generally don’t take forever to finish. By dogged determination, Michaud (pronounced “mish you”) scoured the Internet and game stores. Over time, he has amassed 1,500 board games — make that 1,504, since last weekend — to fill the shelves of a large entry closet and a small room in the basement of his Dundee home. Michaud, 37, is single with a cat named Qbert, who demands a certain amount of attention. But Michaud, who is somewhat allergic to cats, keeps her out of the carpeted game storage room.

Umm…really bro? Board games, that’s your thing? Kaleb Michaud, I’ve got news for you….nobody ever got laid by living alone with a cat named Qbert with a closet full of 1500 board games. Wake up buddy. This isn’t the 20th century anymore. If you ever want to play doctor with a girl, you need to stop playing Operation. The game you need to be playing is Words With Friends.

(Wall St Journal)–Last summer, Kyla Smith spelled S-E-X-Y in Words With Friends, an online Scrabble-like app on her phone. It won her more than just 13 points—it won her love. Stephen Monahan met Britney Hilbun by clicking ‘random opponent’ last year. Eventually her opponent, Charles Briggs, became her boyfriend. Up to that point, the two hadn’t met in person. She lived in Texas, he lived in Arkansas. They met through the “random opponent” feature of Words With Friends, which matches up anonymous players. The game is played by nearly 20 million people a month on Facebook, and countless more on smartphones. Players take turns moving letter tiles on a virtual board, trying to rack up points by spelling out words. For Ms. Smith, her flirty word was a joke. But Mr. Briggs says it showed him that they shared more than an affection for spelling. While playing Words With Friends with her, he says, “There was that little spark.” He thought: “This girl is pretty awesome.” In Scrabble-speak, you might call it a double word score: Since launching in 2009, Zynga Inc.’s Words With Friends has transformed at least a few lovers of words into lovebirds.

Now that’s how it’s done. Random play indeed. Chucky Briggs just dropping s-e-x-y points and bringing home a blue-eyed blonde. Out kicking his coverage big time. Now I don’t want to be mean to Chuck, but his breasts are bigger than his fiance’s. Normally for a guy like Chuck to out-kick his coverage like that he’d have to be a) hilarious b) rich or c) the chick is Russian. Not the case here. Chuck is just your average, over-weight American male who snagged a babe because his Words With Friends game was tight. Just maximizing that chat feature and showing off his lexicon. That is how you play games.

PS: Invalid tile placement on that on that proposal

PPS: How many random games do you think I have played since I read this story?